


Arthur's Memories: Mombasa

by Vineyardelf



Series: Memories [3]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-26 01:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9855374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vineyardelf/pseuds/Vineyardelf
Summary: Fourth in a series of short memories for Arthur and Eames, though chronologically speaking, it's the first!





	

Why Does Cobb have such a hard-on for messing with Kobold’s contracts? Arthur knows he won’t answer that question if he lives a hundred years. The way things are going now, he will be happy to make it ‘til sundown. 

Another day, another extraction contract. Cobb offers his team at half the price of Kobold’s, twice the experience. The contractor is seemingly delighted; old age and a long career in accounting keep his money on his mind even when snatching delicate secrets. It is a dream job. It is too good to be true.   
"Somehow" Kobold finds out who snatched their job.

This is the first time Arthur has met Mr. Eames, a contact from one of Cobb’s other teams. Arthur knows he is too chummy for a near stranger but little else. He is grateful, however; Eames is a skilled enough forger to smell a set-up.   
The extraction job is going perfectly. It doesn’t matter. On a gut feeling, Eames kills himself and Arthur both in-dream just as the door to the high-rise office bursts inward on broken hinges. Groggy, bullets pinging around their ears, they still manage to slither out the window and up onto the maze of air conditioning units on the roof. So begins a wild roof-to-roof chase with Arthur and Eames as Kobold’s quarry. 

“You know, Mombasa is shockingly beautiful. I should really look into a place here,” Eames remarks offhand, heedless of death closing in on all sides. 

“At this rate, your place will be in the cemetery!” Arthur shouts in irritation, gathering himself to leap to a closely adjoining building. How can Eames be so lighthearted with Kobold breathing down their necks? 

They are coming to the end of the line; the next roof is entirely too far to jump. No help for it. Arthur is shocked to see the larger man pass him in a graceful blur, leaping with the strength of a great cat and landing with the poise of a man half his build. Arthur’s momentary distraction is costly; his foot founders as he leaps. The bottom drops out of his stomach as he comes to the top of an arc he realizes will never carry him to the next rooftop. His eyes squeeze shut. No waking up this time, Arthur…

Except that he jerks to a halt as his chest slams into the side of the building. A pair of strong hands has seemingly managed to snatch him from the very brink of death. Eames hauls Arthur to his feet and relative safety, pulling him close for a brief moment to ensure his stability. "One foot in front of the other, Darling,“ Eames winks, grinning lopsidedly as Arthur forgets to let go. Now where had That come from? 

Arthur drops his arms with a half-hearted curse as Kobold ’s goons come to a halt at the edge of the far roof. "Lost my breath a minute. From the fall.” Eames only grins wider and grabs Arthur’s arm, pulling him back into the maze of AC units and freedom.


End file.
